Chapter 53: The First Battle Lost

  "Take a look at this battle in Fanjia Fortress, how confident are you?" Xiao Tianjian asked Yan Chongxi.

  Yan Chongxi ate while sizing up Fanjiabao, swallowed a piece of meat and put down the two small wooden sticks serving as chopsticks, wiped his mouth and replied to Xiao Tianjian: "Not easy to attack! This fortress is built very solidly, it may not be big, but for those who want to attack them, the terrain is very unfavorable! If we rely solely on our own strength, I'm afraid I'd advise us to pack up and leave!

  We only have two bows, and we can't suppress the bows and fire guns of the guards at all. Even if we launch a fierce attack, I'm afraid many brothers will be killed or injured! The east and north sides are not to be thought of, and rushing out from the west is like asking to be shot, only attacking from the south is possible.

  Fortunately, we met Wang Tianlong and his gang this time. Otherwise, we really wouldn't have any way to deal with Fanjia Fortress! Wang Tianlong has more bird guns than us, and even a tiger cannon, which makes things simpler! However, judging from the appearance of those men under him, I think they're enough to handle.

  It's definitely impossible to take it down today, Wang Tiandong will probably solve the troubles of the suspension bridge and the moat first! I'd like to see what tricks he has up his sleeve!"

  Xiao Tianjian nodded and said, "You're right, if it were just up to us, this Fanjia Fortress would be hard to take down! We've never done anything like this before, and the brothers don't have enough experience!"

  "Alright! Let's see how Wang Tianlong arranges things first. The long spearman will definitely not be used for the time being, Iron Head and you shield-bearing swordsmen, just help them attack and take a look at the situation for now, the rest of you wait for my orders!"

  Just as they were talking, Wang Tianlong's subordinate came over and asked Xiao Tianjian to go and discuss something.

  Xiao Tianjian put down his empty bowl and stood up, following him to Wang Tiandong's side.

  Wang Tiandong was whispering to his subordinates, arranging something. Seeing Xiao Tianjian coming over, he smiled and said: "Xiao's arrival is just in time, let's discuss how to fight later!"

  Xiao Tianjian nodded to Wang Tiandong's men and said, "Everything will be done according to Master Wang's instructions. However, I think this manor is not easy to attack. My long gunners may not be of use for the time being! But if Master Wang can solve the problem of the drawbridge, I am willing to lead my men in a surprise attack from inside. You don't have to worry about that, Master Wang!"

  Wang Tiandong was still relatively satisfied after hearing Xiao Tianjian's words. Although he saw that Xiao Tianjian's subordinates were more agile than his own, they didn't have any firearms or even bows and arrows, only two archers, and most of them were long spear holders, so their ability to attack fortifications was definitely not as good as his. This attitude was also considered fair-minded. He didn't expect Xiao Tianjian's long spear soldiers to go up and die directly, unless Xiao Tianjian was an idiot, otherwise he would never agree.

  "Alright! That's settled then! In that case, I'll take charge! Xiao Dangjia, lend me your knife-wielding and shield-bearing men to follow my orders! The rest of you don't need to do much for now, just help out with some miscellaneous tasks. Go dismantle some doors, chop down a tree or two, and bring them over to use as battering rams! I'll take the lead here first. If we can get the drawbridge down, then it's up to Xiao Dangjia and the brothers to storm the gate!" Wang Tianlong said with a swagger

  Xiao Tianjian nodded in agreement, so far Wang Tianglong has shown a fairly broad-minded attitude and the cooperation between them hasn't had any issues, this request he naturally can agree to, otherwise it would make him appear too petty.

  Wang Tiandong made another arrangement, and then called for people to prepare to take action. Xiao Tianjian also went back to call Tie Tou over, letting him and the knife shield hands listen to Wang Tiandong's orders first, including Shi Rang and several horse-riding subordinates, who were also summoned over and handed over to Wang Tiandong to deploy.

  Then the two groups merged and surrounded Fanjia Fortress, and the atmosphere of Fanjia Fortress suddenly became tense.

  The strong men on the wall also rushed to their respective positions, looking like they had undergone some training, although a bit chaotic, but managed to stabilize their footing. Some people immediately set up large wooden boards on the wall to block possible arrows or gunfire from outside, making preparations to defend against the attack.

  Wang Tianlong was still quite experienced, and after shouting loudly to stabilize his subordinates, he shouted again about drinking big mouthfuls of wine and eating large bowls of meat, boosting the morale of these subordinates, which could be considered a pre-battle mobilization.

  After he shouted, the morale of his followers was indeed mobilized. In this chaotic world, what they were doing was just to make a living. Now that they had come here, it was too late to be afraid, and they could only follow him up.

  More than 200 people stood outside the village, holding up their tools and shouting loudly. It was really like a wolf howling, with an atmosphere of thousands of troops and horses, which shocked the birds in the nearby mountains to fly away in all directions, fleeing in terror.

  "Brothers, those who are riding horses go first! Come out with the grappling hooks and let's take down the suspension bridge before we do anything else!" Wang Tianlong shouted loudly to the subordinates holding the reins of the horses, including Shi Rang and others under Xiao Tianjian.

  Shi Rang and others did not prepare any rope hooks, but Wang Tianlong's cavalry had a coil of rope hanging on the side of each saddle, with a three-pronged iron hook tied to the front end. This thing looked more like a wall-climbing gadget, but it was unknown what they used this thing for when riding horses.

  Xiao Tianjian was indeed unfamiliar with this kind of raiding method, so he stopped and watched from the side, coldly observing what Wang Tiandong was going to do.

  After hearing this, the cavalrymen flew onto their horses one after another and took down the rope hooks from their saddles. These people looked at Shi Yan and others who had not prepared rope hooks with a hint of disdain. Someone shouted to them: "Don't be stupid! Follow us, and wait for a while to help us!"

  Shi Rang and others like Xiao Tianjian nodded, they were also unfamiliar with this way of fighting, and could only follow along, and then see what help was needed later.

  Only then did the cavalry captain, Wang Tianlong, put his fingers in his mouth and let out a sharp whistle. The horsemen immediately spurred their horses on, lowering their bodies and pressing themselves as close to the horse's necks as possible, before charging towards the manor gate with a loud shout.

  These people are obviously quite skilled in riding, and their control over the war horses is not bad. After rushing out, they quickly rushed onto the flat ground outside the village, and one by one began to swing lassos on horseback, then formed a team and charged towards the village gate.

  Xiao Tianjian looked at the movements of these people with some tension, and it was only then that he somewhat understood what they were going to do. He secretly sighed in his heart, thinking that doing this indeed still had many subtleties, and his own time in the trade was still too short. In many things, he simply couldn't compare to these old hands.

  Originally, Wang Tiandong's subordinates had a simple way to deal with the suspension bridge. They utilized the speed advantage of cavalry to rush to the outside of the village gate as quickly as possible, using the rope hooks in their hands to hook onto the suspension bridge's ropes and then tying the ropes to the horse saddles. Concentrating all the horses' strength, they would pull the suspension bridge down. If successful, it was likely that the suspension bridge could be pulled down with one effort, making it much simpler to attack the village.

  This time Wang Tiandong launched an attack, and he was determined to solve the trouble of the suspension bridge as soon as possible, to blast through this moat, so that the infantry could rush across the suspension bridge to attack the village gate. Generally speaking, as long as the defender is inexperienced and lacks long-range weapons, this method should still be quite effective.

  As the horse whip was swung, everyone outside the village became excited, cheering and shouting encouragement to the horsemen, hoping they would succeed. Of course, this included Xiao Tianjian's subordinates, as some of their own brothers were among those charging forward, so naturally everyone hoped they would be successful.

  But things didn't seem to be as simple as Wang Tiandong had thought, for just as their cavalry was about to launch an attack, the guards on the wall of the village also began to move, and from between the wooden boards erected on the wall, more than a dozen bows immediately stretched out, and several black iron clubs also appeared.

  It's clear that the people inside the village were also on guard against this move, and had made preparations to defend themselves. As soon as the horsemen approached the moat, the villagers on the wall released a barrage of arrows, and several thick plumes of smoke erupted from the wall, followed by the sound of loud explosions.

  The several horsemen who were charging in the front immediately let out a few miserable cries, and two or three people fell off their horses and tumbled to the ground outside the village. It was unclear whether they had been hit by arrows or gunfire. As soon as the men in front fell, the formation of those behind them became disordered. The people who followed after them had to hastily rein in their horses to avoid the fallen men and horses. What had originally been a neat formation suddenly became chaotic.

  Although they were still rushing towards the Zhuangmen direction, the defenders immediately concentrated their firepower on the Zhuangmen, firing arrows in unison, forcing these horsemen to be unable to accurately throw out the ropes in their hands.

  These horsemen, even if they were brave, couldn't be said to be courting death. One by one, they bent down and lowered their bodies, trying to minimize the chances of being shot. As a result, even though they controlled their warhorses and approached the drawbridge, they couldn't throw the grappling hooks in their hands very far. When the horsemen rushed past the front of the drawbridge, they threw out the grappling hooks one after another, but only one or two of them managed to hook onto the thick ropes of the drawbridge. The rest either fell into the moat or got stuck on the edge of the drawbridge, rendering them useless.

  In an instant, another horseman was shot by Zhuang Ding of Fanjia Fortress and let out a miserable cry as he fell to the ground. After falling, he couldn't control his inertia and rolled down into the trench with a rumbling sound. His mournful wail suddenly stopped, sending chills down everyone's spine, knowing that this man must have been pierced to death by the sharp wooden stakes at the bottom of the trench.

  Wang Tianlong looked at the chaotic scene, cursed a sentence in his mouth, and immediately waved his hand. One of his subordinates immediately rang a copper gong with a clang clang clang sound.

  Those under Wang Tianlong's command heard the sound and immediately turned their horses around one by one, dropping those ropes and turning back to gallop wildly in this direction.

  "What a good surname Fan, no wonder this guy dares to be so arrogant, his village actually has so many archers! Damn it! I underestimated him!" Wang Tianlong cursed.

  Xiao Tianjian didn't care about this matter, what he cared most about was the safety of Shi Yan and Da Niu and those brothers. After these horsemen rushed back, he immediately took stock of his subordinates. When he saw that Shi Yan and Da Niu had all returned, he felt a little relieved.

  This tentative attack ended with the defeat of the attacking side, Wang Tianlong lost four men, two were killed outside the village, and the other two were rescued by his own people. One was shot in the left shoulder, the bullet hit his shoulder, making it bloody and unclear, although he was rescued, this arm is probably useless, he screamed in pain and was carried away. Another person was shot in the arm with an arrow, the injury was not serious, after returning, this man gritted his teeth and asked someone to help him break off the arrow shaft, and endured the pain to pull out the arrowhead.

  Xiao Tianjian only then saw that Hu Zi, who had followed Shi Yan back, was lying on the horse's back with a pale face. After returning, his body swayed to one side and he almost fell off the horse. He was immediately supported by someone and helped down from the horse's back.

  At this time, Xiao Tianjian saw that there was an arrow inserted on the back of Hu Zi's shoulder blade, swaying back and forth on his body. It turned out that when Hu Zi followed him to rush over, he also got hit by an arrow, and it was only with great effort that he managed to hold on and run back.

  Xiao Tianjian quickly had someone break off the arrow shaft on his body, and had someone help him down to hand over to Lv Rongxuan for treatment. This time he came out, he had already expected that it would be inevitable to lose some of his men, so he also brought Lv Rongxuan along as a military doctor. Now it seems that this was a very wise decision.